Socrates Sculpture Park Inc

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK IS A COMMUNITY ENGAGED NEW YORK CITY WATERFRONT PARK DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING ARTISTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION OF PUBLIC ART.

SEE SCHEDULE O'PLANETA ABUELX'MAY 15, 2021-SEPTEMBER 6, 2021'PLANETA ABUELX' WAS A SOLO EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK BY ARTIST GUADALUPE MARAVILLA DRAWING ON ANCESTRAL, INDIGENOUS, AND RITUAL PRACTICES OF HEALING. MARAVILLA'S SCULPTURES ARE AN ACCUMULATION OF TOTEMIC FORMS, RECYCLED AND FOUND MATERIALS, BOTANICALS, MESOAMERICAN SYMBOLISM, AND FUNCTIONAL SOUND COMPONENTS.THE TITLE, EXPANDING THE IDEA OF "MOTHER EARTH" INTO THE INTERGENERATIONAL, GENDER NEUTRAL, AND OPEN-ENDED "GRANDPARENT PLANET," POINTS TO MARAVILLA'S FRAMING OF INTIMATE FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND PASSAGE OF TIME AS CRUCIAL TO THE RESTORATIVE PROCESS. THE INSTALLATION OF WORKS SERVES AS AN HOMAGE TO OUR ELDERS, NOT ONLY AS A VULNERABLE GROUP DISPROPORTIONALLY LOST TO ILLNESS INCLUDING COVID-19, BUT ALSO AS KEEPERS OF CURATIVE ANCESTRAL KNOWLEDGE PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS.INFORMED BY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF MIGRATION AND ILLNESS, MARAVILLA'S PRACTICE AND HIS EXHIBITION AT SOCRATES INVITED THE PUBLIC TO MORE BROADLY CONSIDER HOW WE - AS COMMUNITIES AND INDIVIDUALS - BEGIN REHABILITATION AND RENEWAL FROM COLLECTIVE TRAUMAS, INCLUDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND CONTINUED WHITE SUPREMACIST VIOLENCE. MARAVILLA'S FOCUS ON MUTUAL AND HOLISTIC CARE ARE IN HARMONY WITH SOCRATES AS A WATERFRONT PARK, A SHELTERED GREEN SPACE, AND PLACE OF COMMUNITY.PROGRAMMINGHEALING SOUND BATHSAS PART OF HIS 'PLANETA ABUELX', ARTIST MARAVILLA OFFERED A SERIES OF HEALING SOUND BATHS. SOME OF THE ARTIST'S SOUND BATHS AT THE PARK WERE INTENDED TO SERVE THE GENERAL PUBLIC, WHILE OTHERS WERE OFFERED TO SPECIFIC IDENTITY GROUPS - LIKE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY CANCER OR PEOPLE WHO ARE UNDOCUMENTED.MARAVILLA WAS INTRODUCED TO SOUND BATHS THERAPY WHILE HE WAS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT FOR COLON CANCER AND FOUND IT TO BE A HELPFUL PAIN MANAGEMENT TOOL. HE WAS ALSO DRAWN TO SOUND BATHS AS A NON-WESTERN, ANCESTRAL, AND INDIGENOUS HEALING TRADITION.THE ARTIST BELIEVES THAT SOUND VIBRATIONS TRAVEL THROUGH THE WATER CONTAINED IN THE HUMAN BODY ON A CELLULAR LEVEL - ACTIVATING A PARASYMPATHETIC RELAXATION RESPONSE. "HUMAN BODIES ARE OVER 70% WATER, AND THE VIBRATION OF THE GONGS CAN HELP BALANCE EMOTIONAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND IN SOME CASES PHYSICAL PAIN," HE EXPLAINED.MARAVILLA'S HEALING SOUND BATHS AT SOCRATES TOOK PLACE IN HIS 'DISEASE THROWER (#13 & #14) INSTALLATION,' WHICH TRAINED SOUND HEALERS ACTIVATED BY PLAYING GONGS ATTACHED TO THE SCULPTURES. THE INSTALLATION ALSO INCLUDED A FIRE PIT THAT WAS LIT DURING SOUND BATHS AND MAINTAINED WITH MEDICINAL AND SPIRITUAL HERBS THROUGHOUT THE CEREMONY.BROADWAY BILLBOARD: 'RETABLO BILLBOARD'ON THE BROADWAY BILLBOARD, MARAVILLA PRESENTED AN ENLARGED RETABLO - A SMALL DEVOTIONAL PAINTING MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH DANIEL VILCHIS, A FOURTH-GENERATION MEXICAN ARTIST WHOM THE ARTIST MET WHEN RETRACING HIS MIGRATION. FOR MARAVILLA, THIS COLLABORATION WAS PART OF A MICRO-ECONOMY HE SEEKS TO BUILD THROUGH HIS PRACTICE, WHICH CENTERS MARGINALIZED PEOPLE AND MUTUAL AID. THE PAINTING DEPICTS THE CASTING PROCESS USED TO CREATE THE DISEASE THROWER SCULPTURES, ALONG WITH SOME OF THE SYMBOLIC MATERIALS THAT ARE PART OF THE INSTALLATION, INCLUDING TWISTING GOURDS AND EARS OF CORN IN THE ANCESTRAL/MEDICINAL GARDEN.EDUCATIONFIELD GUIDE: ART, ECOLOGY, & MINDFULNESS WORKSHOPSFIELD GUIDE IS A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTAL WORKSHOPS THAT COMBINE ART MAKING AND THE NATURAL WORLD. FIELD GUIDE WORKSHOPS TOOK PLACE ON SELECT SATURDAYS, MAY - SEPTEMBER 2021, FROM 11AM - 1PM. FIELD GUIDE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS EXPLORED:-PLANTING & GARDENING-DRAWING-SOUND RECORDING-STORYTELLING-PLANT AND TREE IDENTIFICATION-MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF INDIGENOUS PLANTS-PICKLING-BOOKMAKING-BIOPLASTICSTHESE WORKSHOPS ALSO EXPLORED MINDFULNESS TECHNIQUES, SEEKING TO GROW OUR SHARED AWARENESS OF THE NATURAL CYCLES OF THE PARK AS WELL AS OUR OWN SENSES.THE SERIES WILL RESULT IN A BOOK: 'FIELD GUIDE, A COMMUNITY-MADE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE,' THAT WILL BE BOTH A COLLABORATIVE ARTWORK AND A GUIDE TO THE ECOLOGY OF THE PARK.SOCRATES X RECESS FIELD GUIDE: ANCESTRAL RHYTHMS OF THE HARVESTANCESTRAL RHYTHMS OF THE HARVEST WAS A SERIES OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSES IN THE FORM OF WORKSHOPS AROUND CARE, ORGANIZED BY ARTISTS SMITA SEN, ANAIS DUPLAN, D ROSEN, AND MARCELA TORRES WITH RECESS. EACH PROGRAM PAIRED ARTISTIC PRACTICES AND SENSORY RESEARCH TO OFFER RITUAL PRACTICES TO THE PUBLIC. THE PROGRAM EXPLORED THEMES OF PRESENCE, GRIEVING, AND MEMORY BEYOND HUMAN WORLDS. ANCESTRAL RHYTHMS OF THE HARVEST USES SENSORIAL ASPECTS OF SCENT AND MUSIC AS METHODS FOR WORKING WITH GENERATIONAL TRAUMA. AS A COLLECTIVE, THEY COMBINED THEIR EFFORTS TO HONOR THE HARVEST, OFFER A BOUQUET OF MOVEMENT PRACTICES, AND CREATE DYNAMIC SENSORIAL OBJECTS TO BE SHARED THROUGH RITUAL ACTION.SOCRATEENSSOCRATEENS IS A YEAR-LONG EXPERIMENTAL ART-MAKING PROGRAM FOR EIGHT TEENS SELECTED FROM VARIOUS NYC HIGH SCHOOLS. EACH SOCRATEEN RECEIVES A MONTHLY ARTIST'S STIPEND OF $100.IN FALL 2021, SOCRATEENS EXPANDED TO INCLUDE A GROUP OF 9TH AND 10TH GRADE STUDENTS MEETING ON TUESDAYS, AND A GROUP OF 11TH AND 12TH GRADE STUDENTS WHO MET ON WEDNESDAYS.MEETING WEEKLY AT THE PARK, THE SOCRATEENS WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER TO DEVELOP SCULPTURE-MAKING, DRAWING, PERFORMANCE, AND PHOTO/VIDEO SKILLS. THE PROGRAM ALSO INCLUDES VISITS TO ARTIST STUDIOS, MUSEUMS, AND GALLERIES. DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, THE SOCRATEENS HAS TEMPORARILY TRANSITIONED TO AN ONLINE CURRICULUM.SCULPTURE STUDIOSCULPTURE STUDIO INTRODUCES TEENS TO CONTEMPORARY ART-MAKING CONCEPTS, TECHNIQUES, MEDIA, AND VISUAL LITERACY. THIS INTENSIVE PROGRAM CULTIVATES DIRECT PARTNERSHIPS WITH LOCAL ASTORIA/LONG ISLAND CITY MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS TO OFFER AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN SCHOOL AND AT THE PARK EACH SPRING AND FALL. PAST PROJECTS HAVE INCLUDED COSTUMES, INFLATABLES, PHOTO SHOOTS, SCULPTURE MAKING WITH FOUND MATERIALS, DRAWING, AND ART GAMES.SCULPTURE CAMPSCULPTURE CAMP IS A SERIES OF FREE ART-MAKING WORKSHOPS DESIGNED FOR LOCAL SUMMER DAY CAMPS, SCHOOLS, AND COMMUNITY GROUPS WITH YOUTH AGES 5-12.